Special Enrollment & The Individual Insurance Mandate

Special Exemptions

Anybody that meets any of these qualifications is allowed to enroll in health insurance with the assistance of a Covered California licensed agency like ours. No proof is required of these claims and the honors system is used to determine special enrollment eligibility.

Special enrollment exemptions (the option to enroll in health insurance outside of designated enrollment periods) will be made if in 2014 you:

Were displaced by natural disaster(s)

Had your health insurance plan dropped and have been unable to purchase a new one.

Were the victim of domestic abuse

Started a plan but were unable to finish it before March, 31

Could not sign up by March 31 due to the influx of applicants, busy signals when calling in, web site not working properly, etc.

The End Of Open Enrollment?

The first open enrollment period under Obamacare and the individual insurance mandate closed at midnight on 03/31/2014. The good news is that there are many Special exemptions that work on the honors system- a procrastinators dream!

See the chart of exemptions at right for details.

After March 31st, only those with special circumstance will be allowed to purchase health insurance through the Health Insurance markets. People all across California who faced technical difficulties while enrolling in health insurance will have until APRIL 15TH to ENROLL in a new health insurance plan.

The individual insurance mandate is one of the primary reasons that the Affordable Care Act has become the most contested piece of legislation in our country, and the relaxation of the deadlines for this and other provisions of the law have led to it being touted as an obvious failure by both liberal and conservative sectors of the population.

As the first open enrollment period draws to a close however, the LA Times is reporting a surge in enrollments which could push the actual Covered CA completed-enrollment figure pretty closed to the original Obama administration estimates.

Anybody who doesn’t have health insurance through work, and has not at least made some effort towards purchasing a health insurance policy by the end of today will face tax penalties in March/ April of 2015 when they file taxes. These fines will range from a minimum of $47.50 (for one uninsured child) to a maximum penalty of $285 for a family of any size. At that time families and individuals would be required to provide documentation of both their health insurance costs and income for 2014. Tax penalties will be going up each and every year so don't delay any further...get your health insurance plan now by calling 1-800-771-7758 or by getting an on-line health insurance quote

Detailed tax information is available from the governments Healthcare.gov site. These tax penalties are also known as Individual shared responsibility payments. These ISRP payments help to balance the risk pool for health insurance providers. This offset of risk is necessary because health insurance companies are supporting a greater number of unhealthy and elderly people under the ACA. Caring for these less-healthy people with low-incomes must be offset by the insurance spending and fees of those with greater annual income.